Housing Minister chides delinquent home-owners, tenants – $150b debt owed to HDC

IF DELINQUENT Housing Development Corporation (HDC) homeowners and tenants pay more than $1 billion in arrears, the corporation can in turn look to paying more than $1 billion which it owes to contractors for construction and upgrade work on HDC facilities.

This stark state of affairs was raised by Housing Minister Camille Robinson-Regis when she delivered the feature address on Wednesday at the launch of the ministry’s updated Home Application Fulfilment System (HAFS).

This is an online application portal which was developed to automate applications and facilitate the computerised random selection of applications on the ministry’s database.

Initially developed in 2003, HAFS is a repository for the various applications of the ministry and its agencies including the HDC.

The ministry’s IT Unit has implemented several updates to the HAFS system, including this latest update which affords housing applicants the added benefit of being able to access their applications and effect necessary updates to their applications.

According to Robinson-Regis, this update is consistent with Government’s aim for a more digitised environment within the wider public service, and is also consistent with the ministry and the HDC’s desire to improve customer experience.

On the issue of delinquent HDC homeowners and tenants , Robinson-Regis said the HDC was owed $1.012billion in arrears accumulated over the past six years.
She said this huge sum is preventing the ministry and HDC from paying the more than $1billion owed to contractors.

Apart from paying contractors, repayment of the arrears will also facilitate repair and maintenance works on existing HDC developments as well as the construction of new housing units to satisfy the growing demand for affordable shelter options.

It is a known fact that several people are awaiting placement and have been on the HDC’s database for several years.

According to an HDC press release, during fiscal 2017/2018, the corporation embarked on an aggressive debt collection drive and was able to move the level of debt from a high of 51 per cent to 14 per cent in 2019.

With the increase in indebtedness over the past two years, the HDC continues to offer several payments options such as online bank transfers, salary deductions, wire transfers, Standing Orders and other online payment options across the country.

The HDC will continue its debt collection drive and will soon introduce additional payment options to allow home-owners and tenants meet their financial obligations to the corporation, the release said.

Speaking at the launch of the updates HAFS system, Minister in the Ministry of Housing Adrian Leonce, expressed excitement over the new features of the HAFS system.

He said no longer would it be necessary for people to visit their MP’s constituency office, to enquire about their reference number from the HDC, as they can now apply online and immediately receive the reference number.

Leonce said that in updating their information and using the mortgage calculator, applicants will know the mortgage value they qualify for and where necessary, people can work towards increasing their income, savings and even add a co-applicant to increase their potential for random selection and allocation of a housing unit.

The updated system will also allow people to track the status of their application upon receipt by the HDC, through to random selection and the financial assessment phases.

For further information, members of the public can visit the ministry’s website www.housing.gov.tt and the HDC at, www.hdc.gov.tt